


Immortal Love

by msraven



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Drummer!Nicky, Established Relationship, Fluff, Guitarist!Joe, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Rock Band AU, Songwriter!Joe, Teeny mention of angst, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27395002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msraven/pseuds/msraven
Summary: "We met at an old fashioned battle of the bands. We were in competing bands. Nicky's won.""So what happened?" Nile asks, genuinely curious. "Did your eyes meet across the stage like destiny and you each abandoned your bands for each other?""No, no," Joe chuckles. "Nothing so dramatic."A Rock Band AU
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 17
Kudos: 231





	Immortal Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written because I've had a stressful few weeks, culminating in an anxiety filled birthday (Election Day, yay! Or not... we still don't know). I needed the distraction, so here's some fluff. :)
> 
> Thanks, as always, to kultiras for the read through and the encouragement.

"Okay, it's on."

The camera wavers a bit as it centers on two men sitting together on a loveseat. One man has tanned skin, with dark, curly hair, deep brown eyes, and a full beard that frames a wide smile. The other man is fairer, with brownish-blonde hair and blue-green eyes. His smile is smaller, but they both lean equally against each other, their hands clasped as they lie on top of the darker man's thigh. 

"Why are you over there, Nile?" asks the fairer man. 

"Because I'm interviewing you," answers a female voice from behind the camera. 

"But you're part of the band," argues the man with curly hair. 

"Yeah, but this interview is about you two. Just go along with it, okay?"

Both men shrug, looking fondly at whomever is on the other side of the camera. There's a rustle of paper. 

"Okay, first introduce yourselves."

"Hi! I'm Joe," says the curly haired man and then there's a pause of silence as he looks beyond the camera in confusion. "Uh… Yusuf Al-Kaysani?"

"I'm Nicolò Di Genova," says the other man with a small wave. "Nicky."

"And you are…" prompts Nile from out of view. 

The two men look at each other and then back at the camera. 

"I'm Nicky's husband," Joe replies and Nicky bobs his head in agreement. 

"Oh my god, you guys are the worst," Nile says through her laughter. "In the band!"

"Oh!" Joe laughs along. "Yes, right. I am Joe Al-Kaysani. I am the guitarist for The Old Guard."

"And a songwriter," Nicky adds on his behalf. "I am Nicky Di Genova. Drummer."

"My muse, my heart, my life," Joe says earnestly and the two men turn to look lovingly at one another as if they were the only ones in the room. 

"I warned you that would happen," mutters a fourth voice. "You owe me twenty bucks each time they get lost in each other."

"Andy!" Nicky cries happily as he stands to greet the newcomer. "You're back! Have you eaten?"

Joe stands to follow Nicky. "We've missed you, boss. There's leftover pasta in—"

The camera shakes before shutting off.

~*~

The camera comes back to the same loveseat, but only Joe is seated. He yawns and then smiles up at Nicky as he comes into frame. Nicky hands Joe a large cup of coffee before running his fingers through Joe's curls in an attempt to tame them.

"Bed head?" Joe asks. 

"Nicely tousled," Nicky responds with a fond chuckle. 

Joe lifts his arm and Nicky settles into the space at Joe's side. Joe presses a kiss to Nicky's temple as he passes the cup to Nicky without being asked. The two of them share the cup of coffee between them for a few minutes before there's the sound of rustling from beside the camera. 

"Oh! Oops. Camera was already running," Nile says. "Are you guys ready?" 

"Yes, Nile," Nicky answers for them.

"Okay, so how did you two meet?"

Joe grins and Nicky lets out a small groan. 

"We met at an old fashioned battle of the bands," Joe answers. "We were in competing bands. Nicky's won. Go on, Nicky. Tell Nile what type of band it was."

Nicky narrows his eyes at Joe and then sighs. "We were a heavy metal Christian band."

Nile laughs. "Seriously?! How did that make sense?"

Nicky sighs again. "I believe it was a somewhat lacking attempt at rebellion by the lead singer. We had been classmates at Catholic school."

"Painting the Templar cross on your faces was a bold, if misguided choice," Joe adds and soothes a hand down Nicky's arm when he winces. 

"What type of band were you in, Joe?" Nile asks. 

Joe shrugs and looks over at Nicky who shrugs back. "Grunge, maybe?"

Joe shakes his head. "I honestly don't remember. We played whatever the lead singer wanted to sing."

"Neither of us were very attached to those bands," Nicky says. "We only wanted a chance to play."

"So what happened?" Nile asks, genuinely curious. "Did your eyes meet across the stage like destiny and you each abandoned your bands for each other?"

"No, no," Joe chuckles. "Nothing so dramatic." He smiles at Nicky and his eyes soften at the memory. "It was later, when everyone else was gone. I had come back for the jacket I'd forgotten and heard Nicky on the drums. The beat was so different from what I had heard all night and I was drawn to it. Drawn to him."

"He looked like an angel with his halo of curls when he stepped out onto the lights of the stage," Nicky continues the story, sitting up so he can face Joe. "He asked for me to keep going and I couldn't look away as he picked up a nearby guitar. Then Joe closed his eyes and began to play. I would have drummed until my fingers bled just to listen to his music." 

"All I could feel in my heart was the beating of his drums and when I opened my eyes, all I could see was Nicky."

"He told me I was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen," Nicky recalls with a shake of his head. He looks over at Nile with a rueful smile. "My hair was plastered to my head with sweat and I still had a fair amount of the awful paint on my face."

"There is nothing in this world that could detract from your beauty, tesoro," Joe says earnestly, "and I had already heard the wonder of your soul through your music."

Nicky turns back to Joe and cups the side of his face gently. "I could not help but love you."

"I thought you said it wasn't dramatic," Nile scoffs.

Joe and Nicky startle as if they'd forgotten Nile and the camera were there. 

"There was no drama," Joe says in their defense. "I asked him to dinner and Nicky made me the happiest man on earth by saying yes."

"Joe has always been an incurable romantic." Nicky smiles and gives Joe a quick kiss before settling back at his side. 

"Wait. That's it?" Nile asks. "You meet, have dinner, and it's happily ever after? That easy?"

Joe frowns. "We never claimed it was easy. Loving each other, yes, always." The two men look at each other with fond smiles. "Living together took more work."

Nicky turns back to Nile and the camera. "When we met, we were from wildly different backgrounds and barely had a common language between us. As Joe said, it took a lot of work, but the love and music were always there. It paved the way for the rest."

"And you say I'm the romantic," Joe teases. 

"It rubs off," Nicky replies. 

Joe shoots the camera a roguish grin and a wink. "Among other things."

There is a choked laugh from Nile and Nicky rolls his eyes good naturedly as he pats Joe's knee. 

"Behave, hayati," Nicky admonishes. "I believe this video is meant for general audiences."

"Next question," Nile cuts in before Joe can say anything in response. "How did you become part of The Old Guard?"

"Andy and Quynh found us. We had been living together for… two years?" Joe looks at Nicky for confirmation and gets a nod. "We were in London working for my uncle's music shop, teaching lessons, and doing a few gigs, but hadn't found a band we wanted to stay with full time."

Nicky laughs suddenly. "Oh! Our matchbox of a flat. We barely had enough room for two grown men to move about."

"We slept on a thin mattress on the floor and did laundry in the bathroom sink." Joe makes a face, but his smile is bright. 

"I had to cook on a hot plate hoping we didn't manage to set the whole building ablaze."

Joe and Nicky grin happily at each other as they continue to reminisce. 

"Our furnace barely worked, so we needed to huddle together in all our clothes to stay warm."

"I had to constantly remind you not to walk naked in front of the window in the summer months."

Joe's smile goes wicked. "I don't think old Mrs. Klawsky was as scandalized as you claimed."

"Hmph. She needed no extra encouragement to ogle you."

"Thank you for protecting my virtue," Joe laughs and gives Nicky's frown a quick kiss before remembering the camera. "You see that we were very happy, though quite poor. We didn't have the money to visit Nicky's sister…"

"Isabella."

"Yes, Isabella. It was her eighteenth birthday, but we couldn't make it to Genoa for the celebrations. We sent her a video of a song we wrote—"

" _You_ wrote."

"A song _we_ wrote for her gift. Somehow, that video made its way to Andy and Quynh."

"Andy stormed into the store as if she were marching into battle," Nicky recalls. "She said, 'There you are!' as if we'd been purposely eluding her. She was quite adamant that we join them."

"Luckily, their ideas and songs lined up with what Nicky and I preferred, so we joined the growing list of indie rock bands and became The Old Guard." 

"We played our first gig together about six months later," Nicky adds. "It took another year or so for us to release our first album. We'd become fairly popular at the festivals and were also able to do a small tour with a few other groups."

Both men's expressions go somber and Joe turns his face onto Nicky's shoulder. Nicky drops a kiss to the top of Joe's head and they're both quiet for a few moments before Nicky looks back at the camera.

"Then we lost Quynh," Nicky continues in a voice soft with sadness. "She fell in with a bad crowd and got trapped by her addiction. One night, there was an accident. Her car went into the river and Quynh was in the water for a long time."

"She's in the best care facility we could find," Joe chimes in, his voice rough and his eyes bleak. "Nicky and I were in Malta when it happened, but we all blame ourselves for not being able to save Quynh from her fate. Andy most of all."

"It took a long time before any of us could make music after the accident. We had wisely saved most of what we'd earned and had a decent nest egg. Joe and I had decided to open a small music school, thinking The Old Guard would not be resurrected. We were still debating on which city we wanted to live in when Andy returned with Booker in tow." 

"That's when you released your second and third albums?" Nile asks.

"Yes," Nicky answers. "They were both moderately successful, but we attempted to stay off the… How do you say it? Mainstage?"

"Yeah," Nile responds. 

"We were wary of getting too much notoriety and stayed with our small label," Joe says. "No videos, small festivals only, no real internet presence. I know it gets said a lot, but we really were in it for the music, the joy of playing."

"Not all of us."

"Nicky…" 

Nicky's lips thin in displeasure as he looks away from Joe. "It's like watching a piece of your heart be torn away every time."

"I know," Joe says and pulls his arm from behind Nicky to scrub his hands over his face. "I'm sorry I—"

Nicky spins around and grasps both of Joe's hands in his. "No! Hayati, I am not angry at you. What they took from you was wrong. I cannot help but be hurt by your pain."

"You know we can't speak of it. We've made our peace with Book."

"Holy shit!" Nile gasps. "Merrick stole your songs. I should have recognized… Those assholes!"

Both Joe and Nicky look at Nile and then the camera in horror. 

"Nile, please turn off the camera," Nicky orders calmly.

The camera shakes wildly and the video goes black, though audio continues. 

"Why didn't you tell me? Does Andy know?" Nile demands.

"Of course Andy knows," Joe replies tiredly. "They were counting on us not being able to prove who wrote the songs—we collaborated openly between all four of us. We don't have the funds to fight their label. Accusing them would only harm us all."

"That doesn't make it right," Nile protests. 

"It does not," Nicky agrees. "We were lucky that Joe's songs were unfinished and Merrick didn't have the talent to properly tailor them to Keane's voice. Andy feels responsible, but well… they weren't her songs."

"Moving past it is easier said than done," Joe admits. "Which we've just proven spectacularly. We know Booker is your friend. We're sorry for not telling you earlier."

"Why did he do it?"

"You know that Booker went through a rough divorce. Merrick offered him fame and he believed he could use it to win his family back. I was angry for a long time, but I understand his desire to fight for what he loves."

"I told you Joe is an incurable romantic," Nicky says fondly. 

"I also broke Booker's nose," Joe confesses. "But it was more important for us not to lose him like Quynh. Booker's going to AA and therapy now. And we gained you as a result, so we win in the end."

There's a moment of silence before the camera is jostled roughly, showing a blurry image of Nile and Joe hugging for a split second. 

"Is this green light supposed to be—"

The camera goes dark.

~*~ 

The two men are once again seated on the loveseat and there is a tall woman standing behind them.

"Will you join us, Andy?" Nicky asks as he looks up at her.

"What's this part about?" Andy questions. 

"Immortal Love," Nile answers. 

"Then, no," Andy huffs, but her smile is fond as she looks at Joe and Nicky. "I see enough of it every day. You guys have fun."

Andy ruffles Nicky's hair and squeezes Joe's shoulder as she walks past them and out of frame. 

"Okay," Nile says after a moment. "Your song, 'Immortal Love' became a worldwide sensation and introduced The Old Guard to a new generation of fans. Can you explain what inspired it?"

"It's Nicolò's song," Joe corrects. "That's how it lived in my heart for many years."

"We already told you how it began," Nicky points out.

"You did? … Wait. Are you telling me 'Immortal Love' was the song you played together when you met at that battle?"

Both men nod and smile in confirmation.

"For a long time, it was nothing more than a drumbeat and a guitar riff," Nicky tells her. "It was very personal to us. I could tap out the beat with my fingers and Joe would hum back. Our simple way of expressing our love without words."

"It wasn't until one of our recent anniversary trips to Malta that the lyrics came to me. I was watching Nicky reading and the sunlight made him look ethereal, ageless. I imagined what it would be like if twenty years were two thousand and how it would change nothing about how I felt. Nicky would always be my light and my warmth. No passing of millennia would dampen the thrill of his kiss. I knew our love was immortal."

Joe and Nicky look deeply into each other's eyes for a long moment before shifting forward to press their foreheads together. 

"I cried profusely when Joe sang it to me that night," Nicky admits as they separate and turn back to face the camera.

Nile chuckles and then sniffs gently. "You guys are the worst," she says with clear affection. "Um… If it's so personal to you, why did you release it?"

"Something that beautiful needs to be shared," Nicky answers simply. "The song is a reflection of our love, but that doesn't mean others couldn't see themselves within it also. I am lucky to be loved by a poet. It would be uncharitable not to allow others to speak through his words… and well… now the world knows it's our song. It can't be taken from us."

"You intended for Andy to sing it?" Nile asks Joe.

"Yes. I have never been a lead singer. It's… difficult for me in front of a crowd. Guitar and background vocals are no problem, but to sing from my heart…" Joe shakes his head. "Difficult."

"Andy caught a cold the night we were supposed to debut it," Nile recalls. "Her voice finally went out and she couldn't sing it."

"But we'd promised the crowd a new song," Nicky adds.

"What did she say to you, Joe?" Nile asks. "To get you to sing? I couldn't hear from where I was."

"She told me it was Nicolò's song and to sing only to him. It wasn't so difficult, then." 

"A large portion of the popularity of 'Immortal Love' is because of how you sang it that night," Nile tells him. "Have you watched the footage?"

Joe ducks and tries to hide behind Nicky, who smiles widely. "Joe has not, but I have. There was no video from when we exchanged marriage vows and I think I would still prefer the concert footage if there were."

"Really?" Joe asks in surprise as he straightens in his seat. 

Nicky cradles Joe's jaw with his hand as he speaks. "We were too intent on being married to care much about the wedding itself, remember? I can't recall the vows we said, only that we were husbands at the end. Your singing our song, in the words you wrote for me, is much more poignant and now we will always have a record of it."

Joe turns his head to kiss Nicky's palm. "I suppose I should watch it."

"Yes!" Nile exclaims and then rotates the camera so that part of the view includes the television.

"Did you plan this?" Joe asks as Nile cues up the video.

"Of course, I did," Nile admits easily. "It makes for a great interview moment."

Nicky laughs and shifts them so that Joe is laying back against his chest. "I believe she's caught you, habibi."

Joe grumbles, but doesn't put up any more resistance as the footage begins to play. 

On the television, Andy steps away from the microphone and puts a hand to her throat with a grimace of pain. She looks out at the crowd and then over at Joe, who stares back in confusion for a second and then shakes his head vehemently. Andy walks over, moves Joe's mic stand, and turns him so that he's facing mostly toward Nicky at the back of the stage. She wraps an arm around Joe's shoulders before whispering in his ear. It takes another moment for Joe to take a deep breath and nod. 

Andy steps away from Joe and completely off the stage, making Nicky's eyes widen from his place behind the drums. The spotlights adjust to focus on Joe and Nicky as the two men's eyes meet. Nicky begins to play. 

The drumbeat is both simple and complex, like a steady heartbeat interspersed with moments of excitement. Joe's guitar joins in, a perfect accompaniment that is both a soothing melody and joyful explosion of sound. When Joe begins to sing, he does nothing to hide the raw emotion on his face as the words of love and devotion pour out. Nicky's eyes are equally full of love and awe as he watches Joe. 

From the loveseat in the room, Joe makes a small noise of thoughtful surprise and Nicky hums in agreement. 

The song gets to the final chorus and Nicky's voice joins Joe's for the last verse.

"He's all and more… my immortal love…"

~ _fin_ ~ 


End file.
